in life be such, as may not have the least tendency to diminish the credit of the society: and be ye ever dis posed to honour good men for their virtues, and wise men for their knowledge: good men for propagating virtue and religion all over the world; and wise men for encouraging arts and sciences, and diffusing them from east to west, and between north and south; rejecting all who are not of good repute, sound morals, and competent understandings. Hence you will derive honour and happiness to yourselves, and drink deeply of those streams of felicity, which the unenlightened can never be indulged with a taste of.

FOR, by these means, excess and irregularity must be strangers within your walls. On sobriety your pleasure depends, on regularity your reputation; and not your reputation only, but the reputation of the whole body.

THESE general cautions, if duly attended to, wifl continually evince your wisdom by their effects; for it is known by experience, that nothing more contributes to the dissolution of a Lodge, than too great a number of members indiscriminately made; want of regulation in their expences, and keeping unseasonable hours.

To guard against this fatal consequence, we shall do well to cultivate the following virtues, viz. prudence, temperance, and frugality. Virtues which are the best and properest supports of every community.

PRUDENCE is the queen and guide of all other virtues, the ornament of our actions, the square and

rule of our affairs. It is the knowledge and choice of those things we must either approve or reject; and implies to consult and deliberate well, to judge and resolve well, to conduct and execute well.

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TEMPERANCE consists in the government of our appetites and affections, so as to use the good things of this life as not to abuse them; either by a sordid and ungrateful parsimony on the one hand, or a profuse and prodigal indulgence to excess on the other. This virtue has many powerful arguments in its favour; for, as we value our health, wealth, reputation, family, and friends, our characters as men, as Christians, as members of society in general, and as Free-Masons in particular, all conspire to call on us for the exercise of. this virtue; in short, it comprehends a strict observance of the Apostle's exhortation, "Be ye temperate in all things:" not only avoiding what is in itself improper, but also whatever has the least or most remote appearance of impropriety, that the tongue of the slanderer may be struck dumb, and malevolence disarmed of its sting.

FRUGALITY, the natural associate of prudence and temperance, is what the meanest station necessarily calls for, the most exalted cannot dispense with. It is absolutely requisite in all stations: it is highly neces sary to the supporting of every desirable character, to the establishment of every society, to the interest of every individual in the community. It is a moral, it is a Christian virtue. It implies the strict observation of decorum in the seasons of relaxation, and of every enjoyment; and is that temper of mind which is disposed to employ every acquisition only to the glory of Dd

the giver, our own happiness, and that of our fellow

creatures.

If we fail not in the exercise of these virtues, (which are essential supports of every Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons) they will effectually secure us from those unconstitutional practices, which have proved so fatal to this society. For prudence will discover the absurdity and folly of expecting true harmony, without due attention to the choice of our members. Temperance will check every appearance of excess, and fix rational limits to our hours of enjoyment: and frugality will proscribe extravagance, and keep our expences within proper bounds.

THE Lacedæmonians had a law among them, that every one should serve the gods with as little expence as he could, herein differing from all other Grecians; and Lycurgus being asked for what reason he made this institution, so disagreeable to the sentiments of all other men? answered, Lest the service of the gods should at any time be intermitted; for he feared, if religion should be as expensive there as in other parts of Greece, it might some time or other happen that the divine worship, out of the covetousness of some, and the poverty of others, would be neglected. This observation will hold equally good with respect to Masons, and will, I hope, by them be properly applied.

I WOULD not be understood here to mean, that because these three moral virtues are particularly pointed out, as essentially necessary to the good discipline and support of a Lodge, nothing more is required; for

social must be united with moral excellencies. Was a man to be merely prudent, temperate, and frugal, and yet be negligent of the duties of humanity, sincerity, generosity, &c. he would be at most but a useless, if not a worthless, member of society, and a much worse Mason.

In the next place permit me to remind you, that a due attendance on the Lodge for your own improvement, and the reputation of Masonry in general, is absolutely necessary. For your own improvement; because the advantages naturally resulting from the practice of the principles therein taught, are the highest ornaments of human nature and for the credit of the community; because it is your indispensible duty to support such a character in life as is there enjoined. The prevalency of good example is great, and no language is so expressive as a consistent life and conversation. These once forfeited in a masonic character, will diminish a man, not only in the esteem of persons of sense, learning, and probity; but even men of inferior qualities will seldom fail of making a proper distinction.

You are well acquainted, that the envious and censorious are ever disposed to form their judgments of mankind according to their conduct in public life. So when the members of our society desert their body, or discover any inconsistency in their practice with their profession, they contribute to bring an odium on a profession, which it is the duty of every member highly to honour. Indeed instances of the conduct here decried,

I own are very rare, and I might say, as often as they do happen, tend still more to discover the malignity of our adversaries than to reflect on ourselves. For with what ill-nature are such suggestions framed ?— How weak must it appear in the eye of discernment, to condemn a whole society for the irregularity of a few individuals.*

BUT to return to my argument-One great cause of absenting ourselves from the Lodge, I apprehend to be this; the want of that grand fundamental principle, brotherly love! Did we properly cultivate this christian virtue, we should think ourselves the happiest when assembled together. On unity in affection, unity in government subsists; for whatever draws men inte societies, it is that only can cement them.

LET us recollect that love is the first and greatest commandment; all the others are summarily comprehended in this. It is the fulfilling of the law, and a necessary qualification for the celestial Lodge, where the supreme Architect of the universe presides, who is love. Faith, hope, and charity are three principal graces, by which we must be guided thither; of which charity or universal love is the chief. When faith shall be swallowed up in vision, and hope in enjoyment, then true charity or brotherly love will shine with the brightest lustre to all eternity.

Though there should be Free-Mason who coolly, and without agitation of mind, seem to have divested themselves of all affection and esteem for the craft; we only see thereby the effects of an exquisite and inveterate depravation; for the principle is almost always preserved, though its effects seem to be totally lost.